1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a compact electronic apparatus, and more particularly to a compact electronic apparatus capable of storing various input data, such as an electronic notebook.
2. Description of the Related Art
A compact electronic apparatus comprising a plan managing function, such as an electronic notebook has been widely used. The plan managing function herein means a function for managing plans, for example an appointment, a homework assignment or the like having a time limit, priority order, etc. A piece of data for each plan, including fields of "contents", "time limit", "priority order", and the like is herein called a piece or record of plan data, and can conventionally be input into and stored in the electronic apparatus utilizing the plan managing function. Such a conventional compact electronic apparatus commonly comprises a display device, and thus the piece of plan data stored therein can arbitrarily be called and displayed by the display device.
For displaying the input piece of plan data, a daily display function, a weekly display function, or the like is utilized. In cases of the daily display function, pieces of plan data whose "time limit" corresponds to the same day are displayed when that day is called. In cases of the weekly display function, pieces of plan data whose "time limit" corresponds to the same week are displayed when that week is called.
An exemplary plan management function of a conventional electronic notebook will be described below referring to FIGS. 11 to 14. Herein, each piece of plan data includes three fields of "contents", "time limit", and "priority order".
First, a case of inputting a piece of plan data for a plan to be managed into the conventional compact electronic apparatus will be described referring to the flow chart of FIG. 11. As is illustrated in FIG. 11, guidance is displayed by a display device indicating that the field of "contents" should be input (step S101a); accordingly, the field of "contents" is input using a keyboard device (step S102a); and then the enter key is pressed for affirming the field of "contents" (step S103a). This process will be repeated until every field is input. The remaining fields, in this case, fields of "time limit" and "priority order" are input at steps S101b to 8103b, and at steps S101c to S103c, respectively, as is illustrated in FIG. 11. If all the fields are input, the input piece of plan data is transferred to a predetermined area of a RAM provided in the compact electronic apparatus and is stored therein (step S104). Finally, the input piece of plan data is displayed by the display device (step S105). The stored piece of plan data can be amended through the same process as has been input. Moreover, in cases of pieces of plan data for plans having no time limit, steps S101b to S103b may be skipped so as to leave the field of "time limit" blank.
Next, cases of calling each stored piece of plan data will be described. As is shown in FIG. 12, pressing a forward key when an initial display D101 appears, a piece of plan data for one plan will be displayed (see display D102). For calling another piece of plan data, the forward key will be pressed once again. For calling the previous piece of plan data, a backward key will be pressed. Herein, the pieces of plan data will be called in order of "time limit". In cases where two or more pieces of plan data have the same "time limit", the pieces of plan data are displayed in order of "priority order" (see displays D103 and D104 of FIG. 12).
Cases for calling stored pieces of plan data utilizing a daily display function will be described below referring to FIGS. 13 and 14. FIG. 13 is an exemplary flow chart in a case utilizing the daily display function. FIG. 14 is a view exemplarily showing how the display is changed according as the daily display function proceeds.
First, a daily display key is pressed (step S201); a data set in a clock functioning section is transferred to a data counter provided in the RAM (step S202); and contents of the data counter are transferred to a display buffer (step S203).
Next, it is detected whether there are one or more pieces of plan data whose "time limit" corresponds to a data designated by the data counter (step S204). In cases where it is detected that there are such pieces of plan data at step S204, the pieces of plan data are transferred to the display buffer provided in the RAM (step S205); and then the contents of the display buffer are displayed (step S206). On the other hand, in cases where it is detected that there are no such pieces of plan data at step S204, the contents transferred from the data counter to the display buffer at step S203 are displayed (step S206). As is shown in the display D111 of FIG. 14, the date designated by the date counter is displayed in the first line, and then pieces of plan data whose "time limit" corresponds to the designated date are displayed in order of their "priority order" from the second line. The fields of "priority order", [1] and [2], are displayed on the left side, and the fields of "contents" are respectively displayed on the corresponding right side.
For displaying one or more pieces of plan data whose "time limit" corresponds to the next day to the date displayed by the display device, the forward key will be pressed. It is detected whether the forward key is pressed; if it is detected that the forward key is pressed (step S207), the date in the date counter is advanced by one day (step S208); and finally the process is returned to step S203. In cases where the forward key is pressed under the condition where the display D111 appears, a display D112 will appear at step S206. That is, the date displayed in the first lane, which indicates "time limit" is changed from "JAN 8, 1992 (WED)" to "JAN 9, 1992 (THU)". Accordingly, a piece of plan data whose "time limit" corresponds to JAN 9th, 1992 will be displayed from the second line. If the forward key is pressed once more, a display D113 appears. That is, the piece of plan data whose "time limit" corresponds to JAN 10th, 1992 will be displayed. Herein, nothing is displayed from the second line in the display D113, which means that there is no plan data whose "time limit" corresponds to that date.
On the contrary, for displaying one or more pieces of plan data whose "time limit" corresponds to the previous day to the date displayed by the display device, the backward key will be pressed. It is detected whether the backward key is pressed (step S209); if it is detected thee the backward key is pressed, the date in the date counter is reduced by one day (step S210); and finally the process is returned to step S203. In cases where the backward key is pressed under the condition where the display D113 appears, e display D114 appears at step S206. That is, the date displayed in the first line, which indicates "time limit", is changed from "JAN 10, 1992 (FRI)" to "JAN 9, 1992 (THU)". Accordingly, a piece of plan data whose "time limit" corresponds to JAN 9th, 1992 will be displayed from the second line.
In cases where the weekly display function is utilized, the same process will be executed except that the date counter designates a week instead of a day, and consequently the week is displayed in the first line of the display, and the piece of plan data corresponding to the week will be displayed from the second line each week.
Such a conventional system has a problem in that even a piece of plan data for a transacted plan is inevitably called along with a piece of plan data for a plan left unattended, so that the user should read all the pieces of plan data including the piece of plan data for the transacted plan and judge which is the piece of plan data for the plan left unattended; and the user cannot confirm an actual transaction date of each transacted plan. Conventionally, there has been proposed a method in which the piece of plan data for the transacted plan is erased by means of marking or the like as disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 56-35085. However, this has a problem in that the piece of plan data once erased cannot be called again by any means.
Furthermore, according to such a conventional system utilizing the daily display function, or the weekly display function, only a piece of plan data whose "time limit" corresponds to the day or week designated by the date counter will be displayed. Therefore, even if there is a piece of plan data whose "time limit" precedes the designated day or week and for which the plan is left unattended, the piece of plan data is not displayed unless the corresponding past day or week is called. Accordingly, there is a possibility that the user will overlook such pieces of plan data.
Moreover, according to such a conventional system, a piece of plan data for a plan having no time limit cannot be confirmed utilizing the daily display function nor weekly display function.